Pendennis

Good lord. Couldn't Sky Arts find a Muslim?

Three films on the three great Abrahamic faiths; three speeches by experts on those faiths. It sounds like the making of an admirably inclusive season of programming on Sky Arts, arranged by the channel's chairman, Lord St John of Fawsley. A problem, however, looms. For while the lecture on Judaism is to be delivered by the Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, and the talk on Christianity is to be given by the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the contribution on Islam is to be provided by Hans Küng, who isn't a Muslim, but another Catholic. Questions are being asked why nobody who actually practises Islam is deemed suitable.

Küng is a Swiss theologian and somewhat controversial. A priest who rejected the doctrine of papal infallibility, he was stripped of his licence to teach as a Roman Catholic theologian and is now president of an organisation called the Global Ethic Foundation. He has written on Islam, although the authority of his book was questioned by reviewers. One wrote: 'He has come to the study of Islam relatively late. He is not familiar with the Koran, nor has he entered deeper into the rich heritage of Islamic literature.'

Sky Arts says the lectures are to be given by 'leading authorities' rather than spiritual leaders. The Muslim Council of Britain, while saying it wants to see the lecture before criticising it, comments: 'Hans Küng is a respected advocate of interfaith dialogue and it may well be that he will do a splendid job of explaining about Islam and Islamic architecture. It is somewhat regrettable that, unlike for the other faiths... the programme makers seem to have been unable to procure the services of someone who was actually a believer in the religion to present the programme.'There is no word on whether the Archbishop of Canterbury feels snubbed at being overlooked in favour of his Catholic counterpart.

Portillo under fire from Stop the War coalition

Watch out, Michael Portillo. Next month, the Royal Hospital Chelsea is to stage its first pageant in 100 years, which will be hosted by the former Conservative MP, with additional voices provided by Judi Dench and Rory Bremner.

The most eyecatching segment of the fundraiser, however, will involve serving soldiers.

Members of the Household Cavalry, recently back from Afghanistan, are going to recreate a battle scene for the paying punters in a Chelsea square.

This proves controversial and the Stop the War coalition tells me that it's a mistake.

'It will of course not portray the reality of the occupation of Afghanistan, the killing of thousands of innocent civilians, the torture camps at Bagram and elsewhere and the devastation of the country's infrastructure. This 19th-century sounding effort to bang the patriotic drum should be abandoned at once.'

Off with their heads?

A follow-up to the film The Other Boleyn Girl, based on Philippa Gregory's next novel, The Boleyn Inheritance, was announced at Cannes. I'm told screenwriter Peter Morgan, who wrote the first script, is to be replaced by Andrew Davies for the sequel. He's responsible for the BBC's Bleak House adaptation as well as the Bridget Jones films, and sounds an early warning to the first film's stars, Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson: 'It would be nice to get English actresses and an English Henry this time. Or at least one English actress.' Davies, a ratings-puller who enjoys enormous confidence at the BBC, adds that he is now working on an adaptation of Anthony Trollope's The Pallisers for the Corporation, after which he'd like to return to Dickens with Dombey and Son.

Let them eat cake

It will be interesting to see how hands-on Maurice Saatchi, is when it comes to the £75m anti-obesity advertising campaign just awarded to his company M&C Saatchi by the Department of Health.

Lord Saatchi is also chairman of Finsbury Foods, owner of Memory Lane Cakes, United Central Bakeries and Campbells Cakes. Its mission statement says: 'Our primary aim is to wow our consumers with the products we offer, so that they feel the investment of calories was well worth it.'

Finsbury Foods also owns the licence to distribute cakes under the WeightWatchers label, however, so Saatchi's two hands won't be entirely at odds with one another.

Cheers, Boris

London mayor Boris Johnson has appointed Munira Mirza as his cultural adviser, a founding member of the libertarian campaigning group the Manifesto Club which has this to say about the BoJo: 'The new London mayor's first act was to ban drinking on the tube ... the Manifesto Club supports all those - and there have not been that many - who have raised a protest against public drinking bans.' Boris clearly runs a broad church.

Windsor scoop

A royal exclusive which may not be of much historical consequence, but nobody at Buckingham Palace was aware of it until I called, so here it is. Following Autumn Kelly's defection from Catholicism in order that her new husband Peter Phillips kept his 11th place in the line of succession, another royal has gone in the opposite direction. Lady Marina Windsor, until recently 25th in line, was earlier this year confirmed as a Catholic and therefore becomes ineligible for the throne - good news for the Earl of Harewood, who shuffles up to number 40.

Dave goes dressy

David Cameron really is attracting new names to the Conservative flock. Among donations received by the party in the last couple of months is £10,000 from one Robert Lloyd George, the investment banker great-grandson of former Prime Minister David Lloyd George who was, you will remember, a Liberal. 'Robert was at Eton,' notes a Tory source. Another donor is businessman Jonny Elichaoff, best known as Mr Trinny Woodall, which will be handy when Cameron and Co need to know what not to wear. A Cameron friend comments that his Oxfordshire constituency house is 'full of Trinny and Susannah books', so perhaps it's payback time.